April 19, 2013

WATERTOWN — A scene of chaos descended on Cambridge and Watertown late Thursday night and early Friday morning, as police confirmed an MIT police officer was shot and killed, and an apparent carjacking led police on a wild chase into Watertown.

Witnesses in Watertown said they heard explosions. Police officers were screaming about improvised explosive devices. Authorities would not comment on whether the events were connected to Monday’s Boston Marathon bombing. At least one of the suspects in Watertown appeared to be a man in his 20s.

FBI agents were on the scene in Watertown.

“We are aware of the situation, we are being involved, and we are monitoring,” said an FBI representative who requested anonymity because of not being authorized to speak publicly. The FBI source said early Friday it is “too early to speculate” on a relation to the Marathon bombing.

Dozens of police officers descended on Watertown Square after midnight.

“This is still extremely dangerous,” an FBI agent said. The Cambridge bomb squad arrived in Watertown shortly after 1:30 a.m.

A man in handcuffs was being questioned by the FBI in the back of an ambulance.

At Arsenal Court and Arsenal Street in Watertown, an officer bellowed: “Ya gotta get outta here. There’s an active shooter here with an active explosive. Go!”

Peter Jennings, 33, said he was sleeping just before 1 a.m. in his home on Prentiss Street in Watertown when he was awakened by a huge boom.

“It sounded like a stick of dynamite went off,” he said. “I looked out the window, and it was like nothing I’ve ever seen – blue light after blue light after blue light.”

He said more than three dozen emergency vehicles with sirens blaring were heading down Rt. 16 West. He went to the end of his street, where some neighbors were gathering. The air, he said, smelled like “at the end of a fireworks show, like a wick smell.”

“I had a bad feeling because of what happened on Monday,” he said.

John Antonucci’s 79-year-old mother called him hysterical from her home in Laurel Street. She was heard about five gun shots and didn’t know what to do.

“She was saying they’re running down the street shooting,” Antonucci said standing outside if yellow police tape. “She was crying so hard I couldn’t understand what she was talking about.”

So he told her: Stay inside the house.

Police were demanding that cellphones be turned off.

The officer, who has not been identified, was shot multiple times at 10:48 p.m., according to the Middlesex district attorney’s office. No one else was hurt, and no ­arrests had been made by early Friday.

The manhunt fanned out from ­Kendall Square over an area that has endured a tragic and tumultuous week, in the aftermath of the fatal explosions at Monday’s Boston Marathon. There was no report of a connection between the two events, but the swarm of sirens and circling helicopters rattled a region already on edge.

Police from several agencies were conducting a manhunt for the gunman across the school campus and on the T’s Red Line, according to authorities.

MIT and Cambridge police responded to a report of shots fired at 10:48 p.m. Thursday near Main and Vassar streets, according to the university.

Police officers and canine units swept the campus, and a big swath of Vassar Street was blocked.

The university issued an alert to students and faculty to remain inside.

An eerie quiet descended on the campus as teams of ­police officers combed the campus block by block. SWAT teams were present.

Police checked bushes and alleys and yanked on doors.

Officers from the MIT and Harvard departments, as well as Cambridge and State Police, were present.

Siddhartha Varshney was walking home from dinner with two friends when they were stopped at the police cordon.

“Initially, we thought they had caught the suspect in the bombing,” the 28-year-old said. But they then learned it was a shooting involving an MIT officer.

“Well, I — honestly — I mean, I can’t think what I make of it. The situation is a little tense,” he said. “And I hope that whoever he is gets caught.”

Few seemed to be out on the campus at the time of the shooting. One professor, standing feet from the police tape, said he came out of his office when he heard a commotion of sirens and saw ­police lights.

At around midnight, a frantic scene was unfolding at Massachusetts General Hospital, where a dozen police cars arrived with sirens on and several women were brought in by police, looking deeply ­upset.

Some other notes I took......................

Police Officer Shot And Killed On MIT Campus Near Boston – Search On For Suspect(s)

Police all racing to Watertown shooting tied to carjacking in Cambridge. Explosives being thrown from vehicle per radio traffic.

10hrs after FBI releases photos of marathon suspects, four men in Watertown, Mass., firing machine guns, lobbing grenades at police.

The violence broke out when the MIT officer was shot on the school’s campus. The officer, who was not identified, was responding to reports of a disturbance on campus last night when he was shot, according to a statement from Middlesex Acting District Attorney Michael Pelgro.

The officer was found with multiple gunshot wounds and taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Pelgro said.

In addition, police were led on a chase into Watertown, where a gunfight and explosives were detonated.

12:48 AM

Police all racing to Watertown shooting tied to carjacking in Cambridge. Explosives being thrown from vehicle per radio traffic. ( someone called in and said something like 75 police cars there )

Officers turn off cellphones to avoid detonating explosives.

The police say are looking for “dark-skinned” and possibly “Middle Eastern” suspects.

WATERTOWN, Mass. (AP) — Police have converged on a neighborhood outside Boston where there were reports of explosives being detonated and police are telling reporters to turn off their cell phones.

Dozens of officers and National Guard members are in Watertown, where television outlets report that gunfire and explosions have been heard. A helicopter is circling overhead.

Authorities early Friday were calling for somebody to get on the ground and put their hands up and a loud thud was heard after someone shouted "fire in the hole."

Reporters are being told to move away from the scene. A police officer told a reporter: "If you want to live, turn off your cell phone."

Earlier Thursday night a campus police officer was shot and killed at MIT and authorities were searching for the person responsible.

Wild Thing's comment................

This is happening very fast so there are no articles written about it. I am taking the notes above from the news LIVE from Boston.

From a friend on Tweeter...........
WBZ Boston News ‏@cbsboston
Absolute chaos here in Watertown. Police officer to me: "this is not a good place to be right now."